Apple Lovers Unite! Get ready as Apple is holding an invitation only event for reporters, bloggers, and analysts here in SF on September 1st at the Yerba Buena Center. If you were not among the elite chosen ones, you can tune in with the rest of us to hear about some of their exciting new products. This event is expected to be geared around Apple’s devices such as the iPod/Pad, Apple TV, and iPhone. There is also a small chance that we finally see the Verizon iPhone get announced. The rumor mill is running like crazy on this one, but it could be a bit too close to the Apple iPhone 4 launch to really see this product.

This is what we’re hoping to hear about:

• New iPod touch: With a back-facing camera for still images and videos and a front facing video camera for FaceTime video calls.
• Lower-cost iOS-based Apple TV – possibly at $99
• 99-cent TV show rentals
• 7 inch Ipad
  
• Cloud-based iTunes service

Which of these products will you be purchasing? And, more importantly can someone get us on the list?!

Two stellar companies, Girls in Tech and Ubergizmo are teaming up tonight to present: Digital Summer! This event will bring together the most international, professional, and glamourous crowd in San Francisco to celebrate photography, fashion, art, and technology. Among the unique features of this one-of-a kind event is a live runway fashion show. Invitees will also have a chance to enjoy a professional photo-shoot and lots of time to socialize.

Ubergizmo has become one of the top consumer electronic websites, and is distributed in six languages and read in 212 countries. They have been recognized as a leading high-tech website and is ranked as a Top 100 Blog by PC Magazine. Girls in Tech is one of our favorite female run social network enterprises that is focused on the engagement, education, and empowerment of like-minded, professional, intelligent, and influential women in technology. They have made it their personal desire and passion to create and sustain an organization that focuses on the collaboration, promotion, growth and success of women in the tech sector.

Media partners include Yanko Design,Cult of Mac, Techie Diva, Tech Mamas, Mashable, Burdastyle, FashionablyMarketing.me, Thread, and We Blog the World! Sponsors for the eve include Intel and Vorizon. That said, there are some great people behind this and it should be a fun one!  Will you be joining us?!

Get your tickets here on eventbrite, or get your $10 ticket at the door!

Follow the event on Twitter @ #DS2010

The Amazon Kindle has been around for a few years, and its amazing quality has made it a success, but with the recent release of the Apple iPad, will the Kindle survive or be forced to change in order to compete?

An increasing number of readers have turned to e-book readers, and for the past three years the Kindle has been the device of choice. The Kindle offers readers an easy to read and adjust electronic display, a built-in dictionary, and access to the internet and Amazon store where users can download books, magazines and newspapers in a matter of minutes.

However, in April 2010 Apple released the iPad which allows users to do more than simply store digital books. The battle between these e-book readers sparks from the iPad’s ability to provide reading, Web browsing, movies, and games; although, most consumers agree that the Kindle is the better reading device. The iPad also offers a popular Kindle app with a limited library collection.

For now it seems the Kindle is safe, but as Apple continues to push the boundaries of technological advances, how do you think Amazon will respond to ensure a future for the Kindle?

Over the past six years Facebook has grown into the world’s largest social network. Each month over 500 million users post and share 25 billion pieces of content, including links, news and blog posts, which generates traffic to other social media platforms. That means, for all of you that have not yet integrated Facebook into your social media repertoire, now would be a good time to start.

The ultimate goal of any social media platform is to create traffic and increase readership of a site. Recent Facebook page upgrades, such as the like and share buttons, circulate information posted from news streams and profiles. This information has the chance to be seen by hundreds of friends and in turn passed on to their friends. As a site receives more likes and increases the number of people within your Facebook community, the more traffic will ultimately end up back on your own site.

Facebook is no longer just a social network, but a platform for users to market and promote their sites and increase views. Statistics show that 90% of Internet users engage in at least one social network, so if you want to increase your site traffic, Facebook is the place to go. How are you using Facebook to market or promote your business?

“A day to celebrate the revolution of media becoming social. Celebrate Social Media Day with Mashable by attending or organizing a meetup near you June 30th. Connect with your social media community!”

Mashable is hosting the first worldwide celebration for Social Media Day today, June 30th. As of now, Mashable has over 350+ social media day meetups planned around the world! Who doesn’t use social media these days??

Here are some social media facts that I discovered on Socialnomics:

1. 1 out of 8 couples married in the U.S. last year met via social media
2. Years to Reach 50 millions Users:  Radio (38 Years), TV (13 Years), Internet (4 Years), iPod (3 Years)…Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months…iPhone applications hit 1 billion in 9 months.
3. If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 4th largest between the United States and Indonesia (note that Facebook is now creeping up – recently announced 300 million users)
4. comScore indicates that Russia has the most engage social media audience with visitors spending 6.6 hours and viewing 1,307 pages per visitor per month – Vkontakte.ru is the #1 social network
5. 2009 US Department of Education study revealed that on average, online students out performed those receiving face-to-face instruction
6. 1 in 6 higher education students are enrolled in online curriculum
7. % of companies using LinkedIn as a primary tool to find employees….80%
8. The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year-old females
9. Ashton Kutcher and Ellen Degeneres (combined) have more Twitter followers than the  population of Ireland, Norway, or Panama.  Note I have adjusted the language here after someone pointed out the way it is phrased in the video was difficult to determine if it was combined.
10. What happens in Vegas stays on YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook…
11. The #2 largest search engine in the world is YouTube
12. Wikipedia has over 13 million articles…some studies show it’s more accurate than Encyclopedia Britannica…78% of these articles are non-English
13. There are over 200,000,000 Blogs
14. If you were paid a $1 for every time an article was posted on Wikipedia you would earn $156.23 per hour
15. Facebook USERS translated the site from English to Spanish via a Wiki in less than 4 weeks and cost Facebook $0
16. 34% of bloggers post opinions about products & brands
17. 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations
18. Only 14% trust advertisements
19. Hulu has grown from 63 million total streams in April 2008 to 373 million in April 2009
20. 25% of Americans in the past month said they watched a short video…on their phone

Clearly social media is becoming a huge part of all of our lives! I use Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, our blog and many other websites to help gain online visibility for my event planning company. Social media has become the best way to non-invasively spread the word about what you’re doing, so I will very happily celebrate this day. Afterall, It has saved me from dreadful sales calls.

Jed Singer, the coordinator of the Social Media Day celebration in Philadelphia said, “I just love how social media tethers everyone together, and brings people closer in the real world. It’s amazing how far we’ve come from forums and message boards, to blogging, uploading video, microblogging, geolocating,” he said. “The fact that anyone can instantly publish anything to the web has really changed the world.”

Want to participate??

• Meetup Everywhere Mashable: Sign up to attend or organize your own event on the Meetup Everywhere Mashable.
• RSVP to the Facebook Event: RSVP and upload photos from your meetup to Mashable’s Facebook event page.
• Upload to Flickr: Upload photos to Flickr and tag them with #smday.
• Follow @mashSMday: Follow @mashSMday on Twitter for updates and developments on the celebration.
• Tweet: Use the #smday hashtag on Twitter. With so many participating, it will be a trending topic on Twitter on June 30.

There will be prizes for those that tweet or post the event on FB! How has social media helped you??

Overview of Hulu TV: Hulu is a great website that allows networks such as NBC, FOX, ABC & others to broadcast movies and television shows after they have been broadcasted live. As of now, Hulu is only offered to users in the United States and they make sure that international users outside the US do not have access to the videos. Hulu blocks many anonymous proxies and virtual private networks. In addition to NBC, ABC and FOX programs and movies, Hulu carries shows from other networks such as  Current TV, PBS, USA Network, Bravo, FX, NFL Network, Sundance, E!, A&E, and Oxygen. Each supplier receives up to 50-70 percent of advertising revenue resulting from its content.

Now you can easily watch TV on the internet! You don’t have to download from iTunes or create a Netflix account because Hulu TV shows and movies are free and easy to watch.

• What Can I Watch on Hulu TV?: Hulu TV offers full-length movies and tv shows, sports events and short video clips.  You are able to watch current programs, like the latest episode of True Blood, or go back and find old classics.
• How Much Does Hulu Cost?: Hulu TV is free! Most programs begin with “limited commercial interruptions” meaing that every 10 minutes you’ll have to watch a 30 second commercial clip.

Do you watch TV shows or Movies on Hulu.com? If so, do you enjoy this website and find it to be better than NetFlix or iTunes? If you’ve never tried Hulu.com before, you’ll be pleasantly surprised on how many shows you’ll find!

Google TV will make your TV smarter and easier to use! It is television that is combined with internet and works just like a Google search. When you turn on your Google TV, you will be greeted by a search bar. Just type in what you’d like to watch and it will allow you to select and tune that channel. TV is becoming so much more complicated but also easier to use!

• Combines the web with TV
• Combines your TV with your phone
• And runs apps

Here is a short video that explains how Google TV works:

Would you choose Google TV or Apple TV?

Instead of waiting in lines outside of designer sample sales, you can now shop from home, work, or on your iphone! If you haven’t heard of Gilt, actually formed in 2007 and over 1.7 million members strong, it is a pioneer in the U.S. and one of the leaders in the very hot e-commerce “deal space” industry.Sample sales have often been defined by inconvenient times and locations, and only a small number of people actually had access to them. Now, this concept is alive online and can be brought to people all across the country.

Really loving the deals on this site so here’s some info we came across that we’d like to share:

Invitation Only Shopping
Gilt Groupe offers access, by invitation only, to Men’s, Women’s, Children’s and Home desired fashion and luxury brands at prices up to 70% off retail. The sales last for 36 hours and present hand selected styles from a single designer.

First Come, First Served
The sales take place on www.gilt.com and the full collection of merchandise will always be available at the start of the sale. It is important for members to log on early before everything is sold out!

Advance Preview
Each brand is introduced a few days before the sale begins. Gilt presents designer bios and show previews of upcoming sales.

Jetsetter:

Invitation-Only Travel Sales
Jetsetter gives members insider access, knowledge, and elite deals on the world’s best vacations. All the hotels featured are hand-selected by Jetsetter, and the sales last five to seven days.

Some Current sales:

Hotel Maya – Long Beach, CA
Hotel Teatro – Denver
Hotel Commonwealth – Boston
Alladale Wilderness Lodge – Scottland
The Pines Lodge – Beaver Creek
Tiamo Resort – The Bahamas
The beach House Inn – Maine

This is a great opportunity!

On November 9th, 2010 – San Francisco will host the first international social media award show for Communication and marketing professionals, known as The Bees Awards. The Bees Awards will recognize the best social media firms.

“Social media is a growing phenomenon that calls for a new communication and marketing expertise. Contrary to advertising, social media is “real”: it involves real people, real conversations, real products, real companies and real brands. It has nothing to do with something that you create in a board room. David Ogilvy and Bill Bernbach would have loved it and would have jumped in right away!” Bastien Beauchamp, Founder of The Bees Awards.

The Bees Awards Launch from BeesAwards on Vimeo.

The Bees Awards will offer awards to these categories in social media marketing.

BEST 140 CHARACTERS (SMS, TWEET)
BEST USE OF A MICRO-BLOGGING PLATFORM
BEST USE OF A SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM
BEST USE OF MOBILE
BEST RELATIONSHIP WITH BLOGS
BEST CONVERSATION WITH CUSTOMERS
BEST USE OF ALTERNATIVE TOOLS
BEST USE OF MEDIA PRESS ROOM
BEST WRITING
BEST ART DIRECTION
BEST SOCIAL CRM
BEST STUDENT WORK
BEST INNOVATION
BEST CAMPAIGN
AGENCY OF THE YEAR
CLIENT OF THE YEAR

Social media competitors can start entering the event now and the deadline will be October 1, 2010. The nominees will be declared on October 21st. The event will be live-streamed on the internet for free!

For more information

Website: http://www.beesawards.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Bees-Awards/
Twitter: @beesawards

Media relations:
media@beesawards.com